In March of 2012, Major League Baseball announced an expanded format for the playoffs starting this season. For the first time, five teams from each league will qualify, including the three division winners and two wild cards.
While this will surely make things more intense down the stretch, the change also creates the potential for complicated ties between teams at the top of their divisions and other wild-card competitors from other divisions.
Here is how the division titles will be decided in various circumstances if 162 is not enough:
Two-Club Tie for Division Championship (Losing team does not qualify for Wild Card): This is the easiest of all of these potential tiebreak scenarios. The two teams play one tiebreaker game on Thursday, October 4 to determine the division winner. Home-field advantage in the game goes to the team with the better head-to-head winning percentage during the 2012 season.
If that is also tied, the following are consulted until one team is superior to the other: (1) higher winning percentage in intradivision games, (2) higher winning percentage in the last half of intraleague games, (3) higher winning percentage in the last half plus one intraleague game, provided that such additional game was not between the two tied clubs. Then, if somehow the teams are still tied, you go back one intraleague game at a time until the tie has been broken. Then you break the real tie for real on the field.
Two-Club Tie for Division Championship and Wild Card: Similar to the previous scenario, one tiebreaker game will take place on Thursday, October 4 to determine the division kingpin, with the loser being declared a wild-card winner. Home-field advantage in this game is determined in the same manner as above.
Two-Club Tie for Division Championship & Tie With Club Outside Division for One Wild Card: The two teams tied for the division title square off first on Thursday, October 4 to determine the division champion. The loser of that game then plays again on Friday, October 5 against the team from the other division to determine the wild-card winner. This second tiebreaker will be held at the ballpark of the team in the other division.
Two-Club Tie for Division Championship & Tie With Club Outside Division for Two Wild Cards: The two teams tied for the division title play a tiebreaker game on Thursday, October 4 to determine the division winner. The loser of that game and the team from the other division are then the wild-card winners.
Two-Club Tie for Division Championship & Tie With Two Clubs Outside Division for One Wild Card:
In this scenario, two tiebreaker games will be played on Thursday, October 4. In one, the two teams vying for the division title will play to determine the division title. In the other, the two teams from outside of the division will play to see who advances. Then, on Friday, October 5, a third tiebreaker game will be played between the loser of the division championship game and the winner of the other game. This game will be held at the ballpark of the team outside the division and will determine the wild-card winner.
Two-Club Tie for Division Championship & Tie With Two Clubs Outside Division for Two Wild Cards: Similarly, two tiebreaker games will be played on Thursday, October 4. One will feature the divisional rivals to determine the division champion, and the other will be between the teams from outside the division. The winner of the outside-division-game is crowned the first wild-card winner. A third tiebreaker game will then be played on Friday, October 5 between the two teams that lost the previous day. The winner of this game will be the second wild card winner.
Scenarios Where Three or Four Teams Are Tied for the Division and a Wild Card:
Here is where things get complicated.
In the event that three teams tie for the division championship (which could very well happen this fall in the American League), those teams are assigned a letter: A, B, and C (D, in the case where there is also a fourth team tied for a wild card from outside the division). The teams involved in this tie get to choose which letter they want to play in the relevant tiebreaker scenario.
If three tied teams have identical records against one another, the team with the highest winning percentage among the three in intradivision games chooses its letter designation first, followed by the team with the next highest percentage. If any two of the teams have identical winning percentages then the two-team rules break that tie as outlined above.
If three tied teams do not have identical records against one another and one team has a better record than the other two, that team chooses first. The better record between the other two gets second choice, with the two-team rules breaking any tie. There are many other more complicated permutations in the event these tiebreakers are not sufficient to distinguish the teams, however, it is unlikely that things would get that tied.
If four teams are knotted in a tiebreaker that includes the division title and wild cards, with one of the three teams coming from outside the division, that outside team is designated as D, and spots A-C are decided in the same manner as above. Although there are even more complicated determinations in the event of four teams tied for the same division title, the possibility of this happening in 2012 is so remote that it is not worth the headache that would result from trying to compute all of the scenarios.
Three-Club Tie for Division Championship (Losing Teams Do Not Qualify for Wild Card):
After the teams are assigned as A, B, and C, A would host B on Thursday, October 4. The winner of that game would then host C on Friday, October 5 to determine the division winner.Three-Club Tie for Division Championship & One Wild Card: After A, B, and C are assigned, A hosts B on Thursday, October 4. The winner of that game thens host C on Friday, October 5. The winner of that game is crowned the division champion and the loser also enters the playoffs as a wild card.
Three-Club Tie for Division Championship & Two Wild Cards: After A, B, and C are assigned, A hosts B on Thursday, October 4. The loser of the game is declared the first wild-card team. The winner of that game then hosts C on Friday, October 5, with the winner crowned as division champion and the loser as the second wild card.
Three-Club Tie for Division Championship & Tie With Club Outside Division for One Wild Card: After the teams have been assigned as A, B, C, and D (here, D would be the team outside the division), A would host B and C would host D on Thursday, October 4. If D wins, it is the wild card winner and the winner between A and B is crowned the division champion.
However, if C is victorious, the winner of the game between A and B would host C on Friday, October 5, with the winner being declared the division champion and the loser claiming the available wild card.
Three-Club Tie for Division Championship & Tie With Club Outside Division for Two Wild Cards: After A, B, C, and D are assigned (again, here D is the team from outside the division), A hosts B and C hosts D on Thursday, October 4. If D wins, it takes home the first wild card, and the winner of the game between A and B is declared the division champion. The loser of A and B hosts C on Friday, October 5 to determine the second wild card. However, if C wins, the winner between A and B hosts C on Friday, October 5, with the winner crowned the division champion and the loser qualifying for the playoffs as a wild card. The loser between A and B hosts D, also on Friday, October 5, to determine the other wild card.
Got all that? Luckily, no matter how complicated the tiebreaker formulas may seem, if they are needed, it guarantees that more sudden-death baseball will be on tap, which is as good as it gets for baseball fans in October.
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Biggest Regular Season Collapses in Baseball HistoryDel Pearson is a huge baseball fan and follows intently throughout the season. His favorite time of year is the fall when playoff chases heat up. You can follow Del on Twitter @DelPearson2.
